Hunger Within (A Sable Hart Vampire Slayer Novel Book 1)

by Megan Hawke

  "Shitfire!" Gabe cried. "That fucker’s fast!"

  All I could do was stand there for a long second. He couldn’t use his vampiric powers filled with silver, but he was an awfully fast runner. Amazingly fast.

  "Are you that fast?"

  "I wish." I shielded my eyes against his crosses. "Could you please lose those things?"

  He obliged by stuffing them inside his shirt and pockets. Gabe and I shared a long, incredulous look. I think we were both surprised to still be alive.

  "I can see your titties."

  My left hand rose up to my boobs as I glanced down. He was right. Both breasts were partially exposed due to my tattered outfit.

  "Pig."

  "Some things never change."

  I smiled at him. Gabe might turn out to be a friend after all. Still couldn't trust him.

  "You saved my life."

  He shrugged. "Maybe that'll help make up for the fact I failed you the night you were Changed."

  "Not your fault." I frowned at him. "I warned you against coming in here. I would never forgive myself if you got killed."

  "You were taking too long. I knew something was wrong."

  The ceiling in the entry collapsed in a flaming roar. We raced out the same back door Clive escaped through, and didn't stop until we reached Gabe's pickup one street over. I could hear sirens by that time.

  Gabe drove me over to my car. We arrived as the first police and fire department vehicles passed through the nearby intersection. They were far enough away no human eyes could see us.

  I opened my trunk, then started ripping my tattered outfit off. Gabe watched with hungry eyes as I quickly stripped.

  "Don’t step on your tongue, perv."

  "I want to lick you from head to toe." His leering intensified.

  "How enticing. Is that your best pickup line? It set my heart all aflutter."

  "Maybe. Are you going to let me?"

  "Lick me all over?"

  "Yes."

  "Probably," I said, and laughed. "Definitely. Just not tonight."

  "Cock tease."

  Once I was stripped naked, I morphed into a wolf. Gabe’s jaw dropped. Then I was back in human form and grinning. Werewolves couldn’t morph anywhere near that fast.

  “Maybe we can go for a four-legged run in the woods some night,” I said.

  I reached in and pulled out a pair of faded Daisy Dukes. Next came a red V-neck t-shirt. Finally, I slipped on a pair of red stiletto pumps.

  "God have mercy." Gabe reeked of desire and need. "I like vampire Sable much better than human Sable."

  That kinda hurt. "I bet you do."

  I thrust the remnants of my bloody clothes into a trash bag, dropped that in the trunk, and slammed it shut. I waved at Gabe and got into the Mustang. The engine thundered to life. I love big engines.

  "I'll call you. Thanks for the good time." I hit the gas and left Gabe in the driveway.

  At the intersection I had to stop while two fire trucks screamed past. I could see the sky in that direction lit up by the fire. It must've been a beauty.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The pain was excruciating. I had no idea how many silver bullets were burning brightly inside me. During the excitement of the fight I could suppress the pain, mostly. But I no longer had anything to distract my mind.

  I pulled out my cell and pressed redial.

  "Hello?"

  "Hello, Yuri. I just finished burning down your master's house."

  "Sable Hart! Where are you?"

  "Are you listening, dufus? Hear the sirens? I’m over at Clive's mansion, or what's left of it." I paused to let that sink in. "I killed Miles, Ophelia, Maria Teresa, and severely wounded Clive."

  Nothing but silence on the other end.

  "Oh, yeah, I killed Dallas's undead mayor and a pair of undead city councilmen, and maybe a dozen other vampires. But hey, who's counting?"

  "By tomorrow evening every vampire in the city will be hunting you, Sable Hart. I will spend a thousand days torturing you to death."

  "You silver-tongued jack-ass." I laughed. "Have a shitty day, and remember you created me."

  I hung up and punched the 4 key. Speed dial; what a wonderful thing. Boney answered on the first ring.

  "You're still alive?"

  "Barely. Can I come over? Is it safe for you?"

  "Yes." I heard his car engine start through the phone. "I'm heading home now. Meet you there."

  "Get your sharpest knives ready. I have a quarter ton of silver inside me."

  "Should I come get you?"

  "I can make it, but thanks. See you in fifteen."

  I hung up before he could say anything else, then I dialed the only person I knew at the police department. It was his cell number. Sergeant Longhouse answered on the third ring.

  "Do you know what time it is?" he said, voice gravelly with sleep. "This better be important."

  "Hello, Sergeant Longhouse. This is Sable Hart. We've met, back before I was Changed."

  "Yes, I remember." To his credit he sounded much more alert.

  "I've been kinda busy since I was Changed. I killed some of Yuri Romanov's playmates the other day."

  "I know."

  "Really? How?"

  "Dane told me."

  "Nice. Well, I struck again. Clive Honeywell's house is on fire right now. Did you know he Changed the mayor and at least some of the City Council?"

  "He did what? Who?"

  "Yep, they were vampires."

  "Were? Past tense?"

  "I killed them. Killed three of Clive's favorite vamps, too. I have it on reliable word that some of the senior officers in the Police Department have also been Changed. Oh, and I believe the City Manager is a vampire." I swear it sounded like he choked on something. Probably choked on his heart, because that would've been my reaction if I were him. "Thought you should know. Bye-bye for now."

  Chapter 19

  "Sable! Come here! Hurry!" Boney called.

  I frowned. I didn't like to be disturbed while brushing my teeth. My hair was still wet and wrapped up in a towel, and all I wore was an oversized plush, terrycloth bathrobe. Blood red. It was Boney's.

  "Give me a second."

  I spewed toothpaste all over the mirror when I spoke. Irritating. My previous night hadn't been a complete success, though I killed far more vampires than I ever dreamed possible. Originally, I thought I might take out one or two. Maybe. Really, I just wanted to show them I was someone to reckon with. Just killing Maria Teresa would've thrilled me to no end.

  "Hurry!"

  "I'm coming. Hold your horses." I rinsed off Boney's toothbrush. I wondered if I should've asked him before using it. We’d spent another night licking, kissing, nibbling, and sucking on each other’s bodies, but people could be strange about a toothbrush. "What's so important?"

  "TV." He pointed. "You're a star."

  The big flat-panel, high definition TV on the wall was showing a Special News Report. Mostly, it was video of a burnt out ruin. Clive's mansion. I was starting to feel better.

  "Sweet."

  "I spoke with Vicki. Apparently, while we slept the day away…" He gave me a meaningful look. "Your little midnight raid was all anyone talked about. Do you realize you wiped out half of the City Manager's office last night? They figured out the City Manager is a vampire, and missing."

  I couldn't help but wonder if my phone call to Sergeant Longhouse was to blame for the respected City Manager getting his butt outed as a vampire. I hoped so. I enjoyed bringing doom and despair to evil vampires.

  We watched the TV coverage a few minutes, then Boney looked at me with wonder. "This has gone national. Worldwide. The world knows your name."

  "What? My name?"

  "Yep! You're out of the coffin, baby – both as a vampire and as a vampire slayer."

  "Son of a bitch!"

  The reporter standing in front of the police crime scene tape was yammering about body counts and such, but no one knew for sure how
many vampires had perished. The fire was so intense they believed some of them had been completely incinerated. They were still searching the smoldering rubble for more bodies.

  The news anchors appeared in split screen with the reporter on the scene. They were all familiar faces. It seemed so unreal to hear them talking about me – about something I did.

  "So Kevin, we know for a fact this was done by Sable Hart?" the anchor, Bill Jackson, said.

  "Yes Bill, the Dallas PD spokeswoman has confirmed it. Ms. Hart phoned a police sergeant afterwards and confessed," Kevin Hornig said. "The vampiric vampire slayer, Black Heart, has struck again."

  "Black Heart! What kinda crap is that?"

  "That's what they're calling you, babe."

  "That's just great. I'm killing the rogue Euro-vamps who are terrorizing Dallas city government, who are killing off all our elected officials to turn them into obedient vampire slaves, and I'm the one they call 'Black Heart.'"

  "Don't you love the media?" He grinned wickedly. “I think it’s a play on your name. Sable means black in European heraldry, and Hart turned into Heart. I think it is quite clever.”

  “I got it,” Scowling at him just seemed to make him happier. He didn't realize that Yuri had tagged me with that name. The vampires who controlled the local media probably clued them in on calling me Black Heart. "I’m not dense, and I don’t think it’s all that clever. Why are you so cheerful?"

  He pulled me close and kissed me. I could smell his desire building. He pulled the towel off my head and ran his fingers through my damp hair.

  "I'm the man boning the biggest, baddest vampire bitch in town, which makes me the biggest baddest vampire dude in town. Don't you think?"

  He leaned over to kiss me again, and I shoved my splayed hand in his face. Boney tried to push through my hand, but I held him at bay just inches from my face. So he started gnawing at my hand.

  "Why do I keep coming back here? You're just as insane as the rest of them."

  "You're addicted to my bone." I felt the aforementioned bone, hard and bulging, pressed against my belly. My throat tightened and I tried to get it out of my mind. "Like all of the ladies."

  "Pig." I twisted out of his arms. With a couple feet between us, I watched more of the report. It wasn't good. They were plastering my face all over the TV, and they weren’t my most flattering pictures. "This has to be the work of Clive and Dallas's vampire leadership. They are making it impossible for me to go out in public without being recognized. I'll be dead within a matter of days."

  "I suspect you’re right," Boney said rather casually.

  I stared at him. I couldn't believe he was so cavalier about my imminent demise. I thought he cared. At least a little. Was I nothing but a hot shot of ass?

  He noticed the look on my face. "What?"

  "You don't care I'm going to die?"

  "What? What are you talking… oh, wait." Understanding dawned. I think he would've blushed if he was still capable. "I'm sorry. That did sound rather callus, didn't it?"

  "Uh, yeah. I may not like being a vampire, but I don't want to die completely. That's a one way ticket to Hell. I won't do well in Hell."

  Boney grimaced. "You might consider leaving town. The local undead community is alarmed that a fellow vampire is killing vampires, and so spectacularly and brutally."

  “Good.” I don’t think Boney liked my response.

  They had my high school freshman yearbook picture up on TV. I looked so sweet and innocent. I missed being sweet and innocent.

  "I'll need to wear a lot more makeup from now on. Bastards."

  "I guess that means you aren’t leaving town."

  "Not a chance. I plan on dying in Dallas. Probably in a staking gone wrong, but I'll go out with a bang."

  I heard a thump and crash upstairs. My vampiric senses reached out. There was no fear or dread upstairs. We weren't under attack. I recognized the girl upstairs as Vicki. She was extremely angry at that moment, but not afraid in the least.

  "What about your girls? Will they betray me?"

  "No."

  "Are you sure? I'm a vampire slayer, and they love vampires."

  "They are my girls. I can control them. Don't worry."

  "I'm not worried about me. I'm afraid of repercussions aimed at you and your girls. I don't want you to be hurt either."

  "Don't worry about me. I'm a vampire and a pimp. Precarious existence is my middle name. I'm amazed every evening when I wake up and I haven't been staked."

  I grinned at him. "I know. I feel the same way – amazed I'm still alive."

  "Yeah, we're the ultimate hunters and the ultimate prey," he said. "What are you going to do?"

  "Go home. Then go hunting. If the powers that be are determined to make me the terror of the vampire nation, then I shall terrorize. I'll make them sorry they Changed me."

  "I'll so miss you when you’re dead."

  "I know." I winked at him. "I hear I give the best coffin in town."

  Boney laughed. "Without a doubt, you do. You've made my boring old life interesting again."

  "I thought so." I walked over to him, rose up on my toes, and kissed him. "It's only right, since you turned me into a wanton harlot."

  "No, Yuri did that when he Changed you. I just trained you properly."

  I punched him in the ribs. He grunted and laughed.

  "That's outrageous. Trained me? I'm out of here. I have work to do."

  "You're independently wealthy. What work?"

  "Vampire killing." I indicated the TV. "You know, Black Heart, Inc. stuff."

  "Ah. So you’re going to embrace this new Black Heart persona that they forced upon you?"

  “Body and soul, baby. I’m going to give them Black Heart until it kills them.”

  "Don't you think it might be better to lay low a while? Let everything settle down a bit?"

  "Safer. Not better. I'm not interested in safe. I want them to know I'm not scared of them. I want them to be scared of me."

  I couldn't help but wonder if Clive and Yuri were afraid of me. Most likely they were just pissed.

  Boney hadn't been able to help with any of my questions about what Clive, Miles, and Ophelia had been able to do. He called the levitating rush across the room a “surge,” and apparently it was something about half the undead population could do. It might not be possible for him or me to do it. Some vampires had talents and abilities others didn't.

  "You're not scared of them?" he said.

  "Terrified." I grinned roguishly at him. "But that's our little secret."

  "That's why women have always scared me," Boney said, shaking his head. "You understand the danger and consequences of failure better than men, but you go for it with fanatical enthusiasm anyway."

  "It's the only way to earn the grudging respect of men,” I said while getting dressed. “You guys only respect women you fear."

  I headed for the door.

  "You really believe that?"

  "Absolutely."

  It was ten o'clock when I rolled into my own driveway. I went downstairs and got totally vamped out. Head to toe. In the vampire world you'd stand out more if you played down your appearance. So I amped it up, big time.

  It was the first BDSM outfit I bought as a vampire slayer to wear while trolling for vamps to stake. All leather, it consisted of a bolero jacket, matching pants, and patent black boots that came past mid-thigh. The leather bustier was shiny red leather and pushed up my boobs enticingly. I felt I needed a splash of color for a change. The pants and bustier looked like they were painted on they were so snug. The whole outfit was very in your face sexual.

  I liked it.

  The only drawback – there was absolutely nowhere to hide a gun.

  “Deep Ellum, watch your ass,” I said. “Black Heart is on the prowl tonight.”

  That made me think. I seemed to recall a piece of jewelry I saw while rifling through the twins' jewelry boxes. Yeah, I had five jewelry boxes in all my stolen vampire loot. I ass
umed the extra ones were once Petra’s and Anastasia’s. Only the twins put their names on their jewelry boxes, and I knew Dominique’s box from the master bedroom.

  Darcy and Darby loved hearts. They both had a ton of heart jewelry – necklaces, charm bracelets, anklets, etc. They were mostly silver. Some were jeweled and others came in a variety of colors. Including black.

  “Hello, Black Heart.” I lifted a necklace with a black heart locket out of Darby’s box. Inside was a lock of hair. I tossed the hair in the trash. I fastened the necklace around my neck, and the locket rested just above my cleavage. “They want Black Heart, I’ll give them Black Heart all night long.”

  That done, I put on my new face. It was a hooker’s face. Heavy eye makeup. Scarlet, glossy lips. Very bright. I didn’t recognize myself when I was finished. Then I got out my curling iron and went to work putting some sexy waves in my waist-length black tresses. I finished my ensemble with big silver hoops and three silver bangles on each wrist.

  It was past midnight when I finally got into my Mustang and headed for Deep Ellum. Since it was mischief I was looking for, I wanted a quick getaway.

  It was Monday night. You’d think most people would be home in bed after a long day. Tomorrow bright and early most of the city had to wake up and go back to work, but that wasn’t what I found. The streets were bumper to bumper slow traffic. The sidewalks were thick with people. Most were young men and women, wearing hip hop or dancing clothes. There were a few Goths. Strangely, I only spotted one vampire.

  I noticed a familiar face after about twenty minutes of cruising – Pamela Richardson. She was strutting down the sidewalk like she owned it, big silicone boobs bouncing. She was wearing a latex evening gown with a daring slit up the front. Low cut and backless, the gown’s breast cups were hot pink and the rest of the gown was lavender. Her strappy stiletto sandals were hot pink as well. Her shoulder-length hair was teased up big.

  Pamela was headed towards Ruby Necklace. I pulled ahead of her and parked in the first spot I found. Getting out, I stood on the street beside my door and watched her approaching.

  As she reached my car, I moved around the front to come up on the sidewalk. She glanced at me, not really paying attention, and then she did a double-take and almost fell off her stilettos.